Wittenberg University is providing scholarships to 16 junior and senior math and science majors who commit to completing four years of teaching at the secondary level in high need school districts, including Springfield City Schools, Mad River Local Schools, and Tecumseh Local Schools. The project specifically addresses the challenge of attracting and retaining highly qualified STEM teachers to high need schools through financial incentives, new licensure programs in chemistry and physics, early field experiences, and a mentoring program initiated during students' sophomore year and continuing through their first year of teaching. The project provides early field experiences for college freshmen through internships in informal settings and schools serving high need students to spark an interest in teaching and internships for sophomores in research labs at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to prepare them to integrate research into their classroom teaching. A new STEM Teacher Learning Community is bringing together in-service teacher mentors, pre-service teachers, and Wittenberg STEM and STEM education faculty to nurture the professional development and growth of new teachers. The project builds upon established partnerships with high need schools, a new urban teaching track and fifth year induction program, and several established STEM programs including recently awarded state and NSF grants to increase the number of STEM graduates. The blend of strong content preparation and research experiences is preparing students to create environments of discovery and inquiry-based learning in their classrooms. The project addresses the challenge of attracting and retaining highly qualified STEM teachers, including in the difficult-to-recruit fields of physics and chemistry, to high need schools. The program's intentional design integrating research with educational experiences enables new STEM teachers to adopt similar models in their own classrooms, infusing education with the excitement of discovery and sparking their students' interest in STEM. The new mentoring program and STEM Teacher Learning Community is establishing a mechanism for participation by Wittenberg STEM faculty in teacher preparation programs and for ongoing collaboration between Wittenberg STEM and STEM education faculty and area STEM teachers. By strengthening partnerships with high need districts, the project seeks to ensure a future pipeline of qualified STEM teachers to serve in area high need schools.
